Bottle carrier



March 13, 1945. E. C. POTTER BOTTLE CARRIER Original Filed Feb. 17, 1940 fill/671127 2.72 67 P0 fl er Patented Mar. 1 3, 1945 BOTTLE CARRIER Earl C. Potter, Chicago, 111., assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Original application February 17, 1940, Serial No. 319,424. Divided and this application May 7,

1942, Serial No. 442,075

\V 1 Claim.

Thepresent invention relates to collapsible bottle carriers adapted to be formed of sheet material such as folding carton board.

One object of the present invention is to provide a strong, efllcient carrier for bottles and like articles which can be economically made complete at a box plant, shipped to the user in flattened condition and readily set up by the user in condition to receive several bottles to enable them thus to be carried by hand.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bottle receiving portion of a hand carrier having two compartments which can be collapsed one upon the other in which an inner partition is provided partly by portions.upstanding from the bottom panels and partly by tab elements depending from the handle portion formedflfrom material struck out of bottle engaging apertures in the top walls of the bottle receiving portion.

Another object is to provide retaining means I at open ends of the carrier to insure retention of bottles therein.

Another object is to provide foldable separat ing elements in each compartment of a two-compartment collapsible bottle carrier adapted to separate at least certain of the bottles or other articles in such compartments.

Another object is to provide a collapsible carrier with means, such as foldable flaps, for retaining the carrier in expanded condition.

.. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bottle carrier formed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig, 2 is an edge view of the carrier in collapsed or flattened condtiion; and

Fig. 3 is a view of a preferred form of blank from which the carrier can be made.

The carrier as herein illustrated comprises a handle portion at the lower end of which is formed a two-compartment bottle receiving portion having outer walls and an inner partition of equal vertical dimensions so as to form a collapsible parallelogram arrangement.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the handle portion is designated generally at 5 and the bottle receiving portion at 6. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the handle portion is preferably formed from two panels I, I defined from each other by fold line 8 forming the upper edge of the handle portion. The bottle receiving portion is formed from the remaining end portions of the blank, the sections designated at 9, 9 being top panels, the sections designated at I0. I0 being side panels, the sections designated at I I, II being bottom forming panels and the sections I2, I2 being at- I taching flaps adapted to cooperate with tabs I3,

I3 struck from the top panels to form an extension of the handle section and provide a center partition member or connecting section. For this purpose the tabs I3, l3 are preferably secured as by means of staples I4 to the attaching flaps I2, I2.

The tabs I3, I3 are so formed as to be integrally joined to the handle sections 1, 1. In order to more readily cause the tabs to lie in the same are preferably interrupted across the juncture of the tabs with the handle portions.

The size of the apertures l5, I5 left by striking out tabs 13, I3 is such as to closely fit the bottles to be carried by the carrier.

The central bottle receiving aperture of each top panel indicated at I6 is preferably formed by striking out two flaps I1, I! at each aperture, such flaps being hinged along score lines I8, I8, permitting downward swinging of the flaps when the bottle receiving portion is in set up or expanded condition. When the flaps I1, I! are disposed in a downwardly extending position they serve as dividing means to separate thebottles placed in the outerapertures from the bottle laced in the central aperture. The flaps I I, I1 are of such width that they will snugly fit the space between the inner adjacent surfaces of the side walls I0, Ill and the central partition member formed by the flaps I2, I22 and tabs I3, I3.

By reason of this snugly fitting relationship the flaps I1, I! in downwardly projecting position will cause the carrier to be retained in a set-up condition to facilitate the loading of bottled goods into the carrier.

Securingmeans, such as staples I9 are preferably employed to retain the lower parts of the handle sections 1, I in close contact.

As the bottle receiving portion of the carrier is open at its ends means are preferably provided for retaining bottles from outward movement. For this purpose inwardly foldable retaining elements are provided by forming converging score lines 20, 20 and 2|, 2| in the side panels and bottom panel portions respectively. These score lines are extended to meet at the hinge line between the side and bottom panels. After the carrier has been setup these cornerretaining elements can be brought to an operative, bottle-retaining position by inward and upward pressure, causing the elements to snap into and be retained in this position.

The handle portions 1, I are provided with suitable openings 22 and 23. One of the openings, herein illustrated as opening 22, is cut so as to leave a tab element 24 which can be folded through the opposite opening 23, as shown in Fig. 1 so as to cover the raw upper edge of the opening 23 and make the carrier more comfortable to the fingers of the person carrying same.

Fromjthe-ioregoing it is apparent that the present invention provides an advantageous form of carrier which can be folded to lie relatively fiat for storage and shipment and can be quickly and easily set up for use to receive articles such as bottles. It is to be noted that when the carrier is in collapsed condition there are only four thicknesses of material in the collapsed lower part of the carrier. This is due to the fact that the tabs I3, I 3 and the bottle receiving openings are brought into registration so that the tabs lie within the plane of the adjacent panels 9, 9.

The retaining elements formed by the parts 20 and 2| will not be folded into their retaining position until the carrier has been set up. While the carrier is in a collapsed condition, these portions 20, 2| will remain flat and lie in the planes of their respective adjacent side wall and bottom wall portions. After the carrier has been set up the retaining elements are readily snapped into retaining position by pressure upon them with the fingers.

This application is a division of co-pending application Serial Number 319,424, filed February 17, 1940, by Earl C. Potter and Mitchel E.

Holy.

While the present description sets forth a preinvention.

I claim:

A bottle carrier formed of a single blank of foldable paperboard or like material and comprising a handle member and a collapsible bottle receiving portion in the form of an openended parallelogram, the latter including two compartments which can be collapsed against one another, and which are separated by a central vertical partition of equal vertical dimensions' with the outer walls of the carrier, said central partition including an upper portion comprising a plurality of spaced tabs depending from the handle portion into the interior of the bottle receiving portion, and-a lower continuous multiply wall portion extending upwardly from the bottom of the bottle receiving portion but terminating short of the roof of the bottle receiving portion and secured to the tabs depending from the handle member, said handle member comprising a pair of handle panels in back-to-back relation and integrally connected at their upper ends, said bottle receiving portion comprising a horizontal roof portion including two oppositely extending top panels formed integral with the two panels of the handle member and hingedly connected thereto to provide for collapsing of the bottle receiving compartments, each of said top panels having a plurality of bottle receiving openings therein, said openings being formed by striking out the tabs which form the upper portion of the central partition, side panels hinged to the top panels and forming the outer Walls of the bottle containing portion, and a rectangular bottom member comprising a pair of bottom panels hingedly connected to and extending inwardly from the lower edge of said side panels, and said bottom panels meeting along the center line of the carrier and having formed integral therewith a pair of attaching flaps extending upwardly from the meeting edges of said bottom panels and secured together in face-to-face relation, said attaching flaps forming the aforesaid continuous lower wall portion of said central partition separating the two bottle receiving compartments.

EARL C. POTTER. 

